More than residents affected

The fact Pulaski County Public Service Authority had to stop producing water Tuesday affected more than water service customers; it also caused fire departments to make a backup plans in the event of a fire.
The PSA issued a notice to its customers Tuesday to limit water usage because it had to stop producing water due to flood debris hindering pumping from Claytor Lake. As a result, the PSA’s customers were faced with only about a day’s worth of water in the system to serve the county.
This meant the county had to take PSA fire hydrants out of service.
Bobby Clark, emergency services director for Pulaski County, said county fire departments put their “tanker task force” into operation to be dispatched to all structure fires. He said the plan isn’t really much different from what a lot of the county departments use on a regular basis when fire hydrants are not available in the fire area.
Clark explained that the task force essentially divides fire departments on the north side of the county into one task force and the south side into a separate task force. When there is a fire, additional tanker trucks from the applicable task force are dispatched to help fight the fire. The tanker trucks then use a shuttle system to keep at least one tanker providing water to firefighters at all times. As a tanker is emptied, it then refills from the nearest available body of water, such as the lake, a pond, a creek or a river.
Clark said hydrants in the City of Radford also were available to fill tankers for any fires in the Fairlawn area.

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More than residents affected

The fact Pulaski County Public Service Authority had to stop producing water Tuesday affected more than water service customers; it also caused fire departments to make a backup plans in the event of a fire.
The PSA issued a notice to its customers Tuesday to limit water usage because it had to stop producing water due to flood debris hindering pumping from Claytor Lake. As a result, the PSA’s customers were faced with only about a day’s worth of water in the system to serve the county.
This meant the county had to take PSA fire hydrants out of service.
Bobby Clark, emergency services director for Pulaski County, said county fire departments put their “tanker task force” into operation to be dispatched to all structure fires. He said the plan isn’t really much different from what a lot of the county departments use on a regular basis when fire hydrants are not available in the fire area.
Clark explained that the task force essentially divides fire departments on the north side of the county into one task force and the south side into a separate task force. When there is a fire, additional tanker trucks from the applicable task force are dispatched to help fight the fire. The tanker trucks then use a shuttle system to keep at least one tanker providing water to firefighters at all times. As a tanker is emptied, it then refills from the nearest available body of water, such as the lake, a pond, a creek or a river.
Clark said hydrants in the City of Radford also were available to fill tankers for any fires in the Fairlawn area.